Vietnam’s first industrial, B2B eCommerce marketplace gains momentum

Enterprises large or small rely heavily on B2b eCommerce marketplaces today. While most people use Google and other search engines to search for products, enterprises did not have the same capabilities in the past. However this is now changing thanks to the increasing number of B2B eCommerce marketplace platforms.

Some would consider Alibaba and Amazon to be the pioneers of the online B2B marketplace. Today, Alibaba and Amazon are the biggest B2B marketplaces in Asia. SMEs have been relying on both these B2B eCommerce sites to not only reach out to customers in the region but globally as well.

China dominates when it comes to e-commerce, especially in B2C businesses, which has grown tremendously as companies focused on better serving a vast base of customers over the past two decades.

According to the B2B ECommerce: The Challenges and Opportunities Caused by Digital Acceleration report, total sales on B2B eCommerce sites grew 10% to $1.39 trillion in 2020. Though B2B marketplaces currently make up a modest share of all electronic sales, it appears the B2B industry is heading to an eventual marketplace-dominated distribution model.

Apart from the dominance of Alibaba and Amazon, other B2B eCommerce sites have also emerged around the region to give businesses more choices. For example in India, TradeIndia is the subcontinent’s largest online B2B marketplace with over 20 million monthly visits by both SMEs and large enterprises.

In Southeast Asia, Averest is Malaysia’s B2B eCommerce marketplace for all industries. Averest offers low-end membership packages that are affordable for SMEs. It also helps businesses pick up the exporting potential with a low budget.

Meanwhile, Obbo.sg is Singapore’s largest B2B Marketplace, hosting thousands of small business online fronts with products and services, empowering them with the connectivity tools to do business globally at a few clicks.

Vietnam’s growing B2B eCommerce marketplace

Despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, Vietnam’s businesses suffer from manual and inefficient processes resulting in wasted time and higher costs for both purchasers and suppliers when procuring goods. Additionally, purchasers cannot quickly source products due to the lack of price visibility and transparency.

To deal with this, EI Industrial is the first industrial-focused B2B marketplace in Vietnam that aims to accelerate digital procurement in the country. With eiindustrial.com, purchasers can now easily source from multiple suppliers and identify the best deals available.

EI Industrial also recently received a US$670k seed financing round led by early-stage venture capital firm Cocoon Capital with participation from BEENEXT. The platform currently serves over 500 customers in Vietnam, including global companies such as the Esquel Group, Heineken, Toshiba, Olam, Aqua, Oishi, Wahl, and Central Group. It also works with over 300 sellers to meet the growing procurement demands, including Schneider Electric, Bosch, Honeywell, and 3M.

The funding comes at the right time as Vietnam’s B2B eCommerce market has the highest growth rate in Southeast Asia, reaching USD 13.2bn in 2020, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 43% by 2025. With the funding, EI Industrial plans to build a faster and more user-friendly platform and expand the sales, marketing, and technology teams to drive rapid growth.

“Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world in recent years, and SMEs are the backbone of the economy. My co-founders and I established EI Industrial to realize our dream of developing Vietnam’s core industries via technology. EI Industrial now supports businesses and sellers in improving both their productivity and profit margins”, said Anthony Ho Phi An, Founder & CEO of EI Industrial.

For Michael Blakey, Managing Partner at Cocoon Capital, the Vietnamese market has been waiting for such a solution and EI Industrial addresses a clear need. They have been inspired by the team’s passion, determination, and ability to build a platform that is helping to digitize Vietnam’s businesses.

Since its launch in September 2020, eiindustrial.com has become one of the top 100 companies with the fastest traffic growth internet in Vietnam. With the growing demand for B2B eCommerce services, the industry is only going to get bigger in the years to come.

---

---

---

---